SOUND ON SOUND
Just when most of us have finally optimised Windows 95 for hard disk recording, Microsoft release the Beta version of Windows 98. Martin Walker sticks his head in the sand.
The spread of the ADAT 8-channel optical digital interface to studio equipment of all kinds has raised the prospect of a revolution in multitrack digital recording. Self-confessed digital evangelist (amd Korg UK product specialist) Paul Wiffen explains how the optical digital interface and several fibreglass cables made keyboard session player Wix Wickens' life easier at last year's prestigious Songs and Visions concert at Wembley.
If you're after a great rhythm section, these days it's very easy to whip up a great groove from a MIDI file disk. But an inside knowledge of how and why drum patterns work can help make you a better musician and get your rhythm section really working.
Many of us can now afford the once-unthinkable luxury of making our own CDs, for one-off music demos, mass CD duplication or general data storage. But a few of us know the full story behind the numerous 'Book' standards governing the kind of data that can be stored on a CD. Mike Collins colours by numbers...
Chorus, phasing and flanging are very common processes, but they don't always achieve the effect you hoped for. Paul White offers a few tips.
Homebrew software comes to the fore this month, as a Manchester studio decide to make the most of their vintage Atari — by producing their own programs. Derek Johnson gives them a big hand...
Have you ever been faced with recreating a mix that you haven't worked on for weeks? Martin Walker explains how he manages to do just that, without the benefit of expensive automated mixers or a tape-op with a notebook!
Paul White finds a few ways around the restricted breath-control facilities of the Yamaha VL70m.
A job helping to provide the sounds and recording the music for an animated Christmas special has SOS contributor Paul Ward hastily upgrading his studio and exploring the deepest recesses of his synth collection, in search of sleigh bells and singing reindeer patches...
Last time, Benedict Grant explained how to properly mike an acoustic drum kit. In this concluding part of our short series, he turns his attention to committing kit sounds to multitrack.
This month, Martin Walker has some chips and a little sauce, as well as investigating some mysteriously disappearing features in Cubase — Cakewalk Home Studio; Cubase VST.
Taking a compact DAT machine out and about can gain you some unique recordings, but can also present you with some unique problems.
At the January NAMM show in 1987, Roland launched their D50, which mixed synthesis and sampled sounds in one package, a compbination which has remained popular to the current day. Paul Wiffen examines how S&S evolved into the most widespread form of sound generation on the market.
This month, Derek Johnson checks out a couple of new software versions, and finds that Electronic Cow's Sound Chip Synth is moovin' on up...
Storing large PC-based hard disk recording projects can become tricky, especially when you need to make regular backups too. Martin Walker looks at the options available.
In the first part of this new series, David Mellor gives his personal slant on creating a studio that will stay with you as your recording skills and budget improve.
There's no gain without pain. Martin Russ experiences the joys and agonies of a new computer — the Apple Power Mac 7300.
Paul White explains why a great reverb doesn't always make a mix sound better.
Drum kit miking is a black art as far as many project studio owners are concerned. Yet, as Benedict Grant explains in the first of this two‑part series, there's no need to let the kit beat you...